DEERFIELD BEACH — Mayor Peggy Noland has withdrawn — for now — her appointment to the city's housing authority board of controversial blogger Chaz Stevens, who made a racially charged statement last week about the authority's executive director.

"I figure people need to calm down a little," Noland said Friday.

Noland is asking commissioners Tuesday to approve the appointments of Sally Potter and Michael Weiss to the board, but is holding off filling a third vacancy on the board that she had slotted for Stevens. More than a dozen people already have requested to speak at the meeting against Stevens' appointment.

Noland still thinks Stevens could provide good oversight of the authority because of research he has done, although she was disappointed over his comment that executive director Pam Davis hadn't read a critical audit "because it wasn't in Ebonics."

"At this time, we don't need this controversy," said Noland, who already has the proposed merger of the city's fire-rescue department with Broward Sheriff's Fire Rescue on Tuesday's agenda. In addition, there is agitation in the city over the commission's June decision to create a utility tax, with a petition drive under way to put that decision to a referendum.

Stevens, who apologized to Davis for his comment, said someone needs to make the authority accountable.

"They made the story about me. I'm not the story," Stevens said. He previously was appointed to the authority by the mayor last year, but resigned after two meetings saying the authority stonewalled his requests for information. He said that continued when the city began its own investigation.